<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Shittyness of Now by SmexyTrashcan</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26977723">The Shittyness of Now</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmexyTrashcan/pseuds/SmexyTrashcan'>SmexyTrashcan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Allura &amp; Lance (Voltron) are Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe, Bad tho, Because I can, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon is my bitch now, Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone Is Gay, Galra Keith (Voltron), I just don't really like her, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, Switching Perspectives, fuck king alfor, lagnst, lance is my fav and you will probs be able to tell, listen I have daddy issues and I have to project somewhere, low-key I don't like Allura and you can probably tell, non-binary character written by non-binary writer, she's not like</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:43:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26977723</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmexyTrashcan/pseuds/SmexyTrashcan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A rewriting of Voltron except Lance is Altean and Keith is full Galrean and they are already in a relationship. Follows pretty close to canon except I change everything I dont like (which is a lot).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Episode one part one</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Shout out to my sister for giving me this idea and forcing me to write it. Also sorry if there's any grammar errors, blame my sis, cause she's the one proof reading it. My posting schedule will probs be shit, sorry.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pidge knows a lot about of things. She knows every important person in the Garrison. She knows that’s she’s probably not a girl, and she needs to think about that, but she also knows that she doesn’t have the time for that. She knows 10 different coding languages and she knows that’s she the top student at the garrison in the math program for a reason. She also knows that’s there’s some kind of signal coming from the desert, and she won’t be able to track it down herself. She knows she needs Hunk’s help to help track it down. She knows that he’ll be reluctant to help her, but help her anyway because he’s a big softy.</p><p>“Are you sure about this? I mean, what if someone catches us? We’re not supposed to be on the roof! What if we get suspended?!”</p><p>“That’s not going to happen Hunk. Pull yourself together. Just help me find out where this signal is coming from and you can leave, okay?”</p><p>“Fine, but just know that I’m not comfortable with this”</p><p>“Noted” Pidge says, not looking up from her work. She notices he had stilled when he had started ranting, and she had hopes that she calmed him down enough for him to resume his work, but he still wasn’t moving. “I mean it, no one will find us up here, and even if they do, which they won’t, the punishment won’t be nearly as drastic as suspension”</p><p>“You don’t know that“</p><p>“Yes I do, come on Hunk, have I ever been wrong?”</p><p>He thinks for a second, then reluctantly answers “Not that I can think of”</p><p>“Exactly, so stop worrying and start working” </p><p>“Alright” He still works with a note of worry, but he’s working at least, so Pidge turns her full attention to her work. She almost there when she hears something crash. She looks up in time to see some kind of... spaceship? Meteor? hit the ground. She can’t tell what it is from here and it doesn’t look like anything she’s seen before. At the same time, the Garrison goes on lockdown and three Garrison cars speed out towards the site of the crash.</p><p>“What is that?” Hunk says, his eyes darting back and forth between Pidge and the crash, as though she has some idea on what’s going on.</p><p>“No idea, but I’m going to find out,” she smirks, then starts hacking into the Garrison cameras. It takes her a second, and by the times she’s done, the Garrison have reached the crash site and have started setting up their little work station. Based on how they’re behaving, she doesn’t think they know what that is either. She can tell it’s some kind of spaceship through their cameras, but it doesn’t look like any kind of spaceship she’s ever seen before, it looks almost, alien. Oh, that would be so cool. Being one of the first people to prove the existence of aliens? She switches the view from the outside camera to the inside and sees... Shiro?</p><p>“Hunk, look”</p><p>“No thank you, I’m trying to pretend that you aren’t engaging in illegal activity”</p><p>“It’s Takashi Shirogane, you know, the one that went missing last year?” That gets his attention. He looks over</p><p>“You’re right, it is. Oh gosh, what the heck? Why are they tying him down? And where are the other members of his team?”</p><p>“His other team members aren’t there. And I don’t know why they’re tying him down, hold on, I’m working on sound right now,” she clicks a few more buttons and bam, sound.</p><p>“Shirogane, where are your other crew members? Who’s ship is this? What happened?”</p><p>“Voltron, I need to find Voltron. It’s the only thing that can defeat them”</p><p>“You’re not making sense. Who’s Voltron? Who’s ‘them’? Just settle down and explain.”</p><p>“No time, I’ve got to find it. It’s here. It’s close,”</p><p>Pidge mutes it and looks at Hunk. He looks sick and she hasn’t even started talking yet. He’s going to hate what she says next.</p><p>“We gotta help him. The Garrison isn’t listening to him! They’re tying him down and, and I don’t know why, but I’ve got this feeling that this Voltron he’s talking about? It’s important, and we need to find it as soon as possible”</p><p>“I got that same feeling, I was just hoping you weren’t getting it”</p><p>“So...let’s go break him out!”</p><p>“How? We just two kids, there are like 15 trained Garrison people out there”</p><p>“Actually, there are 18”</p><p>“Even worse!”</p><p>“It’s okay because I’ve got a plan, you just need to trust me. Can you do that?” He bits his lip, eyes darting around for a second.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m in. I can feel it in my gut that this Voltron is important, and my gut is never wrong”</p><p>“Cool, then follow my lead” she smirks. Thank god that all the Garrison cars have an override and are hooked into the main Garrison controls.</p><p>She and Hunk get as close to the ship as they can without someone seeing them. She hacks into two of the cars, one as an escape route, and one as a distraction. One of the cars starts up, getting the attention of the Garrison workers near it. It suddenly speeds off. The Garrison workers start to their own vehicles, one hopping to their friend’s car when theirs won’t start. The remaining four Garrison workers seem rattled but continue to do their previous work. She turns the cameras away long enough for her and Hunk to slip in through the back. And there’s Shiro. And the little bitch that was poorly interrogating him. The little bitch, she’s gonna call them LB in her head, was staring at them in shock, so she took that moment to wack them over the head with her flashlight.</p><p>“Oh my gosh, you just knocked someone out!”</p><p>“Well yeah, they were in the way. What else was I supposed to do? Not knock them out? Lame. Anyway, untie Shiro and let’s get the hell out of here.”</p><p>Shiro had just been silently staring at them the whole time, but now he spoke up.</p><p>“Who are you?”</p><p>“Name’s Hunk, and he’s Pidge.”</p><p>“We’re here to break you out. We’ll explain more later, right now we really got to go.” Shiro looks back and forth between Pidge and Hunk, as though searching for something, whatever he’s looking for, he seems to find it because he nods.</p><p>“Let’s go.”</p><p>Hunk finishes up untying Shiro, then the three of them head to the second car Pidge hacked into. As soon as they all get into the car she starts the car and speeds away. The remaining Garrison workers get into their cars and chase after them. Shiro turns to Pidge,</p><p>“You’re heading to that cabin in the desert right?”</p><p>“Yeah, you know it?”</p><p>“Let me drive, I know how to lose them” he grabs the steering. Pidge turns off the override and looks at Shiro.</p><p>“I hope you know what you’re doing,” He nods and starts driving up a cliff, speeding up as he goes. Once they get to the top, he tells them to hold on, and then drives off the edge of the cliff.</p><p>“WHAT THE FUCK! OH MY GOD WE’RE ALL GONNA FUCKING DIE, I FUCKING HATE IT HERE! THIS WAS SUCH A STUPID IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”</p><p>“CALM DOWN HUNK! We stopped falling, we’re all alive, it’s fine, and look, we got rid of the Garrison. Everything’s fine now”</p><p>“DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THAT WAS A STUPID IDEA! I’m glad we’re all fine though” </p><p>Shiro keeps driving until they reach the cabin, at which point they all hop out and head inside. It looks like it hasn’t been used in years with all the dust build up, and maybe it hasn’t. Shiro coughs to get their attention.</p><p>“It’s late, let’s sleep here and talk in the morning”</p><p>“Sounds good to me, I feel as if I’m about to fall asleep standing up” Hunk says as he plops down on one of the couches. </p><p>Pidge still has so many questions, but she’s also exhausted, mostly from not sleeping last night either. Thankfully there are three couches, so they each can have one. They’re super dirty but honestly, she’s too tired to care. They all fall asleep relatively quickly, and before they know it the sun is up. </p><p>Pidge’s back pops as she stretches. She looks around the cabin, both Shiro and Hunk are still asleep. She still can’t believe that happened last night. Her mom’s going to be sooo pissed. She hopes that Shiro and Hunk wake up soon, she really wants to know what happened with Shiro. And where his other crew members are. She gets up, in the daylight, the cabin looks even more dusty, which she didn’t even know was possible. There’s not much in here, couches, a table, some cabinets, which when she goes to check them, are found empty, and a cork board. The cork board is the only decorative thing in here. It’s filled with pictures, there are no people in the pictures, although she see that some pictures have been torn away, and it’s possible that some people had been in those. Instead, the pictures are all of the landscape, mountains, and hills, and the miles of deserts. There’s a picture in the middle that catches her eye. She’s not sure why, but it looks familiar, although she’s sure she’s never seen it before. While she’s contemplating this, she hears the rustling sound of someone else waking up. Shiro comes and stands next to her.</p><p>“Nice pictures aren’t they?”</p><p>“Yeah, they just, reminded me of something. I don’t know what though.”</p><p>“Mmm another five minutes mom” Hunk turns over, his couch creaking as he does. Pidge snorts, even though she knows that normally she’d be the same. Mornings are not really her thing. She walks over to his couch and kicks it.</p><p>“Wake up sleepyhead!” Hunk groans and slowly sits up, rubbing his eyes.</p><p>“Mmmm, I had the weirdest dream last night, Shiro crashed landed in an alien spaceship and we broke him out and... that wasn’t a dream.”</p><p>“Nope! And now that we’re all awake, Shiro, please explain what happened to you? Who’s ship was that? And why did your whole crew disappear?”</p><p>He takes a breath and nods. </p><p>“This is going to sound crazy, but please believe me. Everything I’m about to tell you is the truth. As you know, a year ago Matt, Sam, and I went on the Kerberos Mission. Everything was going fine, but as we were taking a sample of the ice to take back with us to the Garrison, a giant ship showed up. It didn’t look like anything any of us had ever seen before. It looked more like a ship from a bad alien movie than an actual space ship. It’s tractor beam started and we were all sucked up into the ship. We arrived in the ship, and we were knocked out. The rest of my memories are fuzzy, but I remember someone named Zarkon, the leader of the Galra. And I know that Voltron is the only thing that can defeat the Galra, and I need to find it.” He takes a deep breath, “that’s all I know. There’s a gap in my memory, I don’t even know how I got home.”</p><p>“Well dang, that’s, wow” Shiro chuckles a bit.</p><p>“That’s one way to put it.” He’s smiling, but it’s a tired smile, one that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “It’s your turn.”</p><p>“Right!” Hunk straightens and starts talking, “So, me and Pidge, we go to the Garrison. He and I are roommates and he was working on tracking down this signal that was coming from the desert. He was having some trouble on the more mechanical side of things, he’s better at hacking and all that, so he asked me to help him. He gets the signal better from the roof, so we went up there to work on it, and we had almost got it, when we saw you crash land. Pidge hacked into the Garrison cameras, and what you said, about Voltron. I don’t know how to explain it, it was just a gut feeling that we had, we just knew that it was something important, something big, and that we had to get you out of there. So we did.” </p><p>Pidge feels uncomfortable for a second, people using he/him pronouns for her always make her feel awkward, she/her pronouns jalso feel weird, but less weird. Maybe because she more used to them? But those are thoughts for another time, because what Hunk said makes her remember what the picture reminded her of. She digs around in her backpack for a second and pulls out a sheet and of paper.</p><p>“What’s up Pidge?” Hunk questions. She doesn’t respond, she just gets up and sticks her paper next to that picture from earlier, and... winner winner chicken dinner. She smirks. Hunk and Shiro get up and follow her.</p><p>“What are we looking at?” Shiro questions as he looks over her shoulder. </p><p>“The picture on the left is a photo of the canyons, and on the right, the signal I’ve been trying to track for the past month.  The line of the canyons matches the line of the signal. And while I hadn’t been able to pinpoint the signal exactly, I know it’s in the same area as those canyons.” She turns towards them, “This is where we need to go next, I-I can’t explain it, but this is somehow connected to Voltron. I just know it” she glares at them, daring them to argue, expecting them to argue. To her surprise, they nod. Hunk speaks first.</p><p>“My gut is telling me you’re right, and while I don’t particularly like this situation, I do trust my gut. It’s led me to good things. So yeah, count me in.”</p><p>Shiro gives them a small half smile, “Then in that case, let’s go”</p><p>—-</p><p>Hunk generally doesn’t approve of stealing, but he can admit that it is really nice to have a car. The canyons are a 30 minute ride away, and even though its the morning, it’s already getting really hot. That makes sense, he supposes, ya know, it being a desert and all. When they arrive and get out of the car, Hunk misses the air conditioning immediately. He stops thinking about the heat however, when he realizes that the feeling in his gut has become stronger, more pointed. It’s kinda like he can feeling someone calling him, and before, it was too quiet to hear exactly where it was coming from, but now that he’s closer, he can hear it better. He starts walking toward one of the cave entrances, slowing down when  he hears Pidge calling out to him.</p><p>“Where are you going?”</p><p>“The thing that we’re looking for, it’s over here.  Can’t you feel it?” He calls back, turning his head back to look at Pidge. Pidge shakes his head, but starts following him anyway, Shiro trailing behind. They catch up to him in the entrance to the cave. The further they walk, the more carvings show up, Hunks never seen this many in one place. Pidge was trailing his hand over them, and Hunk was tempted to do the same, and so hesitantly, he touches them. As soon as he does, they glow bright yellow. He jumps back, startled. Looking back at Shiro and Pidge, he see that they’re just as confused, although Pidge has a strange glint in his eye, like he wanted to take a sample of the wall and analyze it. Before any of them can think too hard about any of it though, the floor lights up as well, revealing a circular design, right beneath their feet. And then the floor opens and they fall through. </p><p>Thankfully, there’s some kind of slide thingy there so instead of free falling and (probably) getting severely injured, they tumble down this smooth sand path. They all seem to have arrived at the bottom safely. Hunk doesn’t actually check though, because as he looks up, he looks directly into the face of a giant metal lion. Its bright yellow, and protected by a yellow force field. Without thinking about it, Hunk raises his hand up, and touches the force field. Instantly, visions flood his mind.</p><p>He sees the yellow lion flying with four other lions like him, but with different colors and slightly different sizes. They fly in sync, leaving trails of color in their wake, until they combine, forming one large warrior, that looked a little like a transformer. The warrior unsheathes a sword from seemingly nowhere, and moves into a battle ready position. The vision changes, showing the warrior fighting against some enemy, and winning with ease. The visions stop, and when Hunk could see clearly again, he saw that the forcefield had come down, and that the lion’s mouth has opened, creating a ramp. Before heading up the ramp, he turned to Pidge and Shiro.</p><p>“Did you guys see that too?” Shiro nodded, and Pidge conveyed his agreement as well. </p><p>He turns his attention back to the lion and starts up the ramp. He can hear the lion talking in his head, well, talking wasn’t the right word. It was more like images and feelings being transmitted directly into his head. He couldn’t translate what exactly was being said, but he got this impression of what the lion was telling him. And he knew, with increasing dread, that he would have to be the one to pilot the lion. She wouldn’t let anyone else do it. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to pilot, he did go to the Galaxy Garrison after all, it was just that 1) he was on the engineering track, 2) he was actually horrible at piloting, and 3) he had major motion sickness. Like, he threw up practically every time the garrison did a training sim kind of of motion sickness. So yeah, he wasn’t really looking forward to flying this thing. But there was something comforting about having the lion in his head, and so while he doesn’t particularly want to, he sits down in the pilot seat. Pidge takes a look at him in the pilot seat, and while he makes a quip about Hunk’s motion sickness, neither him nor Shiro argue with him about him piloting the lion. Hunk supposes that they can feel this energy that he and the lion are connected somehow, although he don’t think that they can hear the lion like he can. The thought calms him somehow, this idea that this lion choose him. Him, out of everyone, that she choose him over Shiro and Pidge, who both seem infinitely more qualified. And with that in mind, he takes off.</p><p>—-</p><p>Shiro isn’t sure of how he feels about bring two kids along with him to fight the Galra, but he isn’t sure of anything really, his head still jumbled. Besides, if he has to bring along any two kids, he supposes that these are the some of the best ones to bring. The Hunk kid seems to have this connection to the yellow lion, almost like he can communicate with it, and this Pidge kid seems scary smart, and keeps glancing at every new bit of tech (including his arm), with this glint in his eyes, like he wants to break them down and rebuild them, figure out exactly how they tick. And for some reason, Shiro has a feeling that if they actually let Pidge dissect them, he COULD figure out how they tick. Shiro would not like someone like that to be an enemy. As they speed farther into space, Shiro couldn’t help wondering where they were going. So he asks.</p><p>Hunk answered, “I’m not completely sure, to be honest, but I think Yellow here is taking us home. Well, not our home, obviously, but hers. Those other lions in the vision, I think they’re her family, in a way, and that she taking us to them,” he spoke nervously, and for some reason, that did not install confidence in Shiro. The way he talks though, it definitely confirms his suspicion that Hunk can communicate with the lion, whom he seemed to have aptly named Yellow. </p><p>“Any idea how long it’ll take us to get there?” Pidge asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. Hunk shrugged.</p><p>With that, Shiro decided to get comfortable and let his mind wander. He could hear Pidge and Hunk talking about something, but he didn’t listen in. Speaking of Hunk and Pidge, err well, thinking of in this case, who named these kids? Neither of those names were actually names, they were just random words. Before he could think too much about that, however, something shot at them. He immediately went on high alert, scanning what he could see out of the window. </p><p>“It’s a Galra ship,” Both Hunk and Pidge looked at him in shock and horror, although Hunk immediately turned back to the controls, dodging another blast. </p><p>“Well, shit,” Pidge said, though that was the understatement of the century. </p><p>Hunk continues to dodge the blasts (mostly) and even managed to shoot back a couple of times, though none of them enough to bring the bigger ship down.</p><p>“We need to get out of here,” he says “We’re not experienced enough to take him down, and trying to do so would be foolish.”</p><p>“Do you see the swirly, blue, portaly thing over in the corner,” Hunk points in a vague direction as he continues to dodge, and Shiro looks at it, it’s a considerable distance away from them, and being so distracted with the ship, he hadn’t even noticed it. “Yellow says it actually is a portal, or a least I think that’s what’s she saying anyway. I think its our best shot for getting out of here.”</p><p>“If that’s what you think, then that’s what we should do. I trust you. Pidge? Are you okay with that?”</p><p>“Personally, I think not being blasted to bits is ideal, so I say let’s do it.” And with that Hunk starts flying them to the portal, still having to dodge blasts, although thankfully the portal was not blocked by the Glara ship. Shiro wasn’t sure how they’d get to the portal if that was the case.</p><p>Flying through a portal was not a pleasant experience, and watching Hunk dry-heave after did not help calm Shiro’s stomach. Thankfully, the portal had deposited them next to a planet and they soon got to land. Hunk seemed especially grateful, apparently he had some kind of thing with motion sickness, which was made apparent not just through how queasy he looked, but also through Pidge’s jabs.</p><p>The planet was covered in grass and looked very lush, with no type of civilization Shiro could see, besides the giant castle in front of him. As soon as they all get off Yellow, Yellow’s forcefield reactivates, leaving them with nowhere to go but inside the castle. So off they go, stepping forward, and, before they even have the chance to knock, the door slides open. There isn’t anyone inside, and the lights turn on as they step inside.</p><p>“Hello?” Shiro calls out, “Is anyone here?” No one answers, and with a quick look at Pidge and Hunk, who just shrug at him, he continues inside.</p><p>The lights continue to turn on as they walk, like they were on a motion censer or something. There is really only one way for them to go, which Shiro supposed he was grateful for, because if there was some kind of split path or something, Shiro would have no idea which way to go. Eventually they end up in a large circler room, with some kind of control panel in the middle, and a ring of circles around it.  Three of the circles rise, revealing tubes, with people inside? They open and three people fall out of them, Shiro manages to catch the person in the middle, and Hunk catches the person to the left of him, but Pidge utterly fails too catch the last person. Now that they’re up close, Shiro can see that they don’t look human, with elf ears and some kind of markings on their skin. Before he has time to say anything, however, the alien (at least he’s pretty sure they’re alien at this point) wakes up, and bodyslams him into the ground, pinning him there. </p><p>“Who are you? Some kind of spy? An assassin?” Shiro isn’t sure how they expect him to answer, due to the fact that they literally have him in a chokehold, but before he can even try, whoever Hunk caught cut in.</p><p>“Allura calm down, at least let them talk before trying to kill them.” Shiro wishes he had caught them instead, they seemed much nicer and not like they were putting Hunk into a chokehold. The alien who he assumed was Allura, sighed, then let him go, though still fixing him with a murderous glare. </p><p>Shiro got up, rubbing his throat a little, “Thank you,” he said, shooting the alien in Hunk’s arms a thankful glance, “I suppose we should introduce ourselves. I’m Shiro, this is Hunk, and this is Pidge,” pointing at them as he says their names. “We mean no harm, we promise,” Shiro smiles, hoping it makes him look trustworthy and confident.</p><p>The kid in Hunk’s arms smiles back, so he must be doing okay at that, “I’m Leandro,” he says, straighten up and moving out of Hunk’s arms, “This is my sister, Allura,” he gestures a hand at her, “and this is Coran.” Coran seems to have pick himself off the floor from where he fell, and was now at the central console, looking distressed. “Coran? Is everything okay?” </p><p>Coran opens then closes his mouth, looking green, and god Shiro hopes he doesn’t throw up, but instead, he starts crying. Shiro can’t tell if that’s better or worse. There’s just something so unsettling about watching someone who looks middle-aged cry. It didn’t help that it’s also uncomfortable to watch someone you don’t know well cry. Leandro runs over to him, Allura following right behind. Shiro isn’t sure who exactly Coran is to them. They’re all obviously the same species of alien, but they don’t look related at all. But maybe alien genetics work different? Or maybe someone’s adopted? Do aliens even have a system of adoption? Or maybe he’s like their dad and they’re mixed race or something? But Leandro didn’t introduce him like that, and he did introduce Allura as his sister, so maybe he’s someone else entirely? Okay this is giving him a headache, he needs to think about something else. Thankfully, they start talking at this moment.</p><p>Coran takes a deep breath, then looks at Lance and Allura. “We were in cryostasis for 10,000 Deca-Phoeps,” There are gasps from Leandro and Allura, and Shiro has no idea how long that is, but he’s going to assume that’s a fairly long time. “There’s more, Altea, it’s, it’s gone. We’re the last remaining Alteans.” </p><p>“What?!” Allura speaks first, “that, that can’t be right! There’s no way-I mean- it’s just- no, that can’t be right!” Leandro doesn’t speak, just cups his mouth and starts dry heaving, his eyes filling up with tears. </p><p>“It’s correct Allura, I wish it wasn’t. But, I’ve checked it multiple times, and,” he wipes his eyes, “it’s definitely correct. We are the last Alteans. The Galra, they, took over. They won, and continued to win, they have over half of the known galaxy under their control.” Leandro looks up at this, then quickly glances down again, slapping a hand over his neck. </p><p>Allura, however, looking furious at this new knowledge. “The Galra won? Against dad? There’s, there’s no way. They must have used some kind of trick. There’s no other way for them to have won. I always knew the Galra were a bunch of thieving, lying, conmen. Zarkon, Yorak, Lotor, the whole lot of them, I never trusted them, and I was right to not trust them.”</p><p>This is when Leandro piped up, seemly having put his sadness away for the moment, replacing it with anger. And if Shiro was honest with himself, he got why Allura and Leandro were doing that, anger seemed more managable sometimes, it felt easier to turn to, nevertheless, it was still every uncomfortable to watch. </p><p>“Don’t quiznacking talk about Yorak like that. He’s nothing like them. He’s better than you will ever be. He can’t help it that’s he’s got a shitty family.”</p><p>“A shitty family?! He’s a traitor like the rest of them and you’re blind if you think otherwise. So, sorry that you’ve got a little crush on him and you don’t want him to be evil like the rest of his family-“</p><p>“He’s not evil! Before Zarkon attacked he came! He came and he warned us! But dad was too quiznacking stubborn to listen! And I don’t have “a little crush on him”, he’s my mate!” They had been in each other faces, but at that, Allura steps back, a disgusted look on her face. Before it could get worse, Coran stepped in-between them.</p><p>“Allura, Leandro, why don’t you take a moment for yourselves. Take a breather, try to process this. We can deal with the other stuff later. I’ll take care of the guests.” Coran smiles at them, but Allura and Leandro just glare at each other one more time, before stomping off in different directions.</p><p>Coran takes a deep breath, wipes his eyes, and smiles a shaky smile at Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk. “Now, let’s exchange stories shall we?” </p><p>—-</p><p>Leandro is pissed, and sad, and he just wants to continue to cry and lay here. But, he also wants to figure out what exactly is going on, and why he can still feel his stupid quiznacking mate. If it’s actually been 10,000 Deca-Phoeps, then there’s no way for Yorak to actually be alive still. Unless he joined his dad, but he wouldn’t do that, right? No, he wouldn’t. He’d never, he’s better than that. Maybe the whole mate bond is broken somehow? Can it even break? Honestly, he has no idea. He’s never actually meet another Altean who’s mated. If only mating was an Altean thing, but no! He had to go get hitched the Galran way! Where they have weird bonds that work through biting each other! Oh, and also, they might all be evil and destroy everyone you’ve ever loved! He knows that not fair, being of a certain species doesn’t make you automatically evil anymore than it makes you automatically good. He wishes that it was that easy though, that he could just vilify the Galra, say that all of them are the bad guys, and they all deserve the worst. Uggh, now he’s thinking too much. He scrubs a hand over his face, like that can make his thoughts go away. He takes a deep breath, wipes his eyes and sits up. He’s been here for about a varga, and there are things to be done, so as much as he’s like to stay here, he can’t. So he stands up  and walks out. </p><p>It takes a while before he finds them in the dining room, Coran served them some of his weird food, which none of them seem to be touching, instead choosing to go for the goop, which is honestly probably better, Leandro loves Coran, but his food is weird. Allura’s the only person he knows who likes it. Speaking of Allura, it seems that she hasn’t come out yet. He sits down, next to Coran, and similes at the guests. They can probably tell that he was crying, but honestly he doesn’t care, he’s always been a pretty crier.</p><p>“Ah good, you’re here! And right on time. I was just trying to explain to our guests how the lion-paladin bond works. Unfortunately, I’m horrible at explaining it, never was quite sure how it worked myself. Could you try?” </p><p>“I can give it a shot,” Leandro smirks and turns to the guests, “Did Coran explain quintessance to you?”</p><p>“It’s a type of energy source, right?” The short one says, adjusting their glasses. Leandro feels bad about not remembering their names, but he’s sure he’ll sure he’ll figure them out eventually. </p><p>“Sort of. It’s pure energy, but it’s also the essence of something. Any living thing has quintessence in them. And the quintessence differs from individual to individual. No two things have the same type of quintessence in them. It’s one of the things the Galra are trying to accomplish by taking over everything. They figured out that pure quintessence can make you live forever, and be insanely strong. But it has to be pure quintessence, which you can only get two ways, find an energy source for it, or take someone else’s quintessence and purify it.” Lance realizes that he getting way off track and not answering the original question at all, so he tries to steer himself back on track, “Anyways, even though no two quintessences can be the same, they can be similar. The lions have their own quintessence, what with them being sentient and all, and they pair with the people who have the most similar quintessence. When they bond with someone, that person becomes their paladin. The bond can grow over time, which results in the lions evolving and gaining more power-ups and stuff like that. It’s pretty cool”</p><p>The short one look absolutely fascinated, practically vibrating with excitement. “That’s amazing. I’d love to see it in person. How exactly do they evolve? Like, what’s the science behind that?”</p><p>“Um, I’m not exactly sure, but basically they can control quintessence. Allura can control quintessence too, to an extent. It’s a gift some Altean are blessed with.”</p><p>“That’s so cool.”</p><p>Like saying her name summons her or something, Allura walks in, politevsmile on her face. She doesn’t sit down, instead just going right into her little spiel, cutting off whatever the short one was gonna say next.</p><p>“As I’m sure Coran told you, we need to find all of the lions and bring them together, to once again create Voltron, in order to defeat the Galrean army, and bring an end to their rein. I believe you three were brought here today to become the next Paladins. Currently I am unsure of who the other two Ppladins might be, but I believe with your help, and only your help, we can stop the Galra. So, what do you say?” </p><p>Dear Lanrik, his sister is an idiot. Who says shit like that? With no preamble? Is she on drugs? And what was that shit about her not knowing the other two paladins, she knows damn well that Yorak and him are the other two paladins. Him and Blue have always had a special connection and Red and Yorak go together like jhgfuy and kjok. She’s just being prissy, like usual. </p><p>“I’m in.”</p><p>“Pidge! You don’t even want to think about this?” Ah so that is the short ones name, Pidge, he’s got to remember that. “I mean, It sounds cool and all, don’t get me wrong princess, but I just feel maybe we should think about it a little more, maybe.” </p><p>“You can think about it a little more if you want, but I want in. I want to help, and also learn more about aliens. And how it all works.” </p><p>“I mean, I wanna help too, don’t get me wrong, but it just seems like a big decision to make without thinking about it.” </p><p>“Think about how you and Yellow connected, you know you’re meant to pilot her.”</p><p>“God, I hate you when you’re right.”</p><p>“So you hate me all the time?” The big guy just laughed. Well that was two down, maybe Allura’s tactlessness was somehow working. Lanrik, that’s a scary thought. Leandro turned to the last guy, who was definitely thinking this over more carefully than the other two, which is honestly probably for the best. </p><p>“I’m in. The Galra need to be stopped, and if I can help in any way, then I’ll do it.”</p><p>“Wonderful, I’m so glad to have you all on board. Then, if you would, please follow me to the control room.” Allura turned on her heels and stood off, the new paladins scrambling after her. Leandro rolls his eyes and follows. She’s such a prick sometimes. Acting like she’s better than everyone else, like she’s the boss.</p><p>When they reach the controlling room, Allura pulls up the map. Pidgeon? No, Pidge, looks thrilled, eyes darting around like this room is the most exciting thing they’ve ever seen. Allura mutters something under her breath, he can’t tell what exactly, he’s too far away, but it causes five dots to light up on the map.</p><p>“Each dot represents a lion. My father sent them away before the Galra attacked us, and gave me the key to them, just in case.” Because of course he did, he always did like her better. He know that’s mean of him, don’t speak ill of the dead and all, but whatever. “As you can see, the yellow and black dots are in the same place. This is because the black lion is in the Castleship, however, she is locked away, and can only be unlocked when the other four lions are all together, next to her door.”</p><p>“Lit.” Leandro isn’t sure what that means, but based on the awed way Pidge is saying it, he assumes it means something good. The big guy nods along with him.</p><p>“Yeah, that sounds like a really cool system.”</p><p>“Err, thank you,” Allura looks slightly peeved at them for interrupting her, but like she’s trying to hide it. Lanrik, she’s got such a stick up her ass. Just let them have fun. “As I was saying, each dot corresponds to a lion, color coded, of course. The green lion is on the planet Qwub. Pidge, I want you and Shiro to retrieve those. Pidge, you are the paladin of her. I’ll give you a tracker to reach her, and a pod to fly over in. The blue lion is on the planet Aoyeuf, Hunk and Leandro, I’d like you to retrieve her. I’ll give you a tracker to reach her, and your yellow lion has a connecter to hook her up, so you can bring her back.” Lanrik, Leandro was going to murder her, she was such a quiznakking bitch. He doesn’t want to cause another scene though, so he lets her pretend he’s not the blue paladin, and doesn’t say anything. He can’t wait to show up flying her though, and wipe that stupid smile off her stupid face.</p><p>“Who’s Shiro gonna pilot? And what about the red lion? And what are you gonna do?” Pidge is currently his favorite of the new paladins. The chaotic energy they give off? Wonderful. Questioning his sister? Even better.</p><p>“Shiro is the paladin of the black lion. And the red lion, well, it’s a bit of complicated situation. Red is stuck on a Galra ship. I am currently unsure of how we will get to her, but while you are off getting Blue and Green, I will be here with Coran, and we will be figuring out how to get to her.” planning that out.” </p><p>“How safe are the planets? Like, are we gonna have to fight the Galra to get them? Cause I’m not really down with that. I know eventually I’ll have to fight them and stuff, but I just don’t feel ready yet. I need a lot more practice first.” That’s a really good question actually. He seems a bit nervous, but Hunk seems like a really cool dude too. That’s good, Leandro isn’t sure what he’d do stuck with only his sister, Coran, and a bunch of lame strangers. </p><p>“According the castle, the Galra should not be on those planets. The castles information is self-updating, for the most part, so this should be correct.”</p><p>“Okay, cool, that’s not too bad then. I can do that.” </p><p>“If there are no more questions, then let’s send you all off.” </p><p>—-</p><p>There’s so much cool tech, and also aliens? Are? Real? Maybe Pidge is dead and this heaven, cause this is so cool!! Well, except for the whole war thing and also there is no way Pidge is going to get into heaven. So maybe she isn’t in heaven. It’s weird, how good and bad things are. She found Shiro, and figured out what happened to the ship, but she doesn’t know what happened to her brother or her dad. She found that aliens and all this tech exists, but has to become a front-liner in a war to learn more about it. Shiro breaks her out of her line of thinking.</p><p>“We’re almost there. Just about a minute more. You excited?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s pretty cool, kinda scary too though.” She kinda wants to tell him more, but something holds her back. Shiro isn’t the same as he used to be, he feels more closed off than he used to. Obviously he would, it’s a common reaction to trauma, and he definitely did experience a lot of trauma in the past year. Still, it makes it harder for her to talk to him, like there’s this bridge between them. It doesn’t help that Shiro doesn’t even know who she really is. There is a stillness in the pod, a kinda of uncomfortable silence, like neither of them know what to say. It used to be so easy to talk to Shiro, to just rant about whatever. It’s not like they talked much, he was just her brother’s best friend, but he just gave off such dad vibes that Pidge kinda made him a secondary father figure on her life. He was just always around, and Pidge enjoyed his company. She wishes she could just go back to that part of her life, everything was so much easier back then.</p><p>Once they land, Pidge starts feeling that thing that Hunk was talking about with Yellow. It’s very faint, but it’s like a buzz in her veins, that get louder as she moves forward. It’s like playing a game of hot and cold. She follows that feeling, and tells Shiro about what she feels. After walking for a bit, the conversation between them flows a little easier. It’s not where it was, but it’s better. </p><p>After the better part of an hour, they reach temple like thing. It’s covered in vines, looking more like a plant than a building. Pidge instantly know that that’s where Green is. There’s a small opening in the top of the temple, just the right size for Pidge to crawl through. She climbs up and in, leaving Shiro to stand guard outside. The inside of the temple is empty, save for Green and paintings all over the walls. Green is what really captivates her attention though. She smaller then Yellow by a lot, but still huge, and she’s buzzing with energy. Her forcefield deactivates, and she unhinges her jaw/ramp thing. Pidge steps inside, and the buzzing feeling doesn’t go away, just, sharpens. The inside of the lion is amazing, a light green glow covering everything, similar to the glow of the yellow lion. The chair is smaller, at a size where she can actually touch the controls. It comfier than she expected too. It conforms to the shape of her butt perfectly, and oh my gosh she’s never getting out of this seat, it’s so nice. She can hear Green too, talking in something more akin to algorithms and code then words. Following her instructions, Pidge maneuvers Green up and out of the temple. </p><p>She sees Shrio at the bottom, hair messed up from the wind that her and Green are creating. As she sets down next to him, she can see that he’s grinning at her, his signature dad smile. She opens up the ramp and he heads inside. </p><p>“Good job kid,” he rifled her hair and it’s almost like before, so close that if closes her eyes she can pretend it is, but it’s not. </p><p>“Thanks, dad” She smirks and gets Green flying again.</p><p>He scoffs, mock offended, “Dad? How old do you think I am?”</p><p>“Doesn’t matter, if your acting like a dad, you get called dad.” She shrugs. </p><p>“Kids these days, no respect for their elders.” He says it in this horrible old person voice and Pidge can’t help but laugh. His voice gets normal again, a small sad smile on his face. “You remind me of this kid I used to know, she said shit like that all the time. Smart like you too.” </p><p>That’s cause I’m her! Oops! Haha! Except that she can’t actually say that, partly because she just doesn’t want to go into all of the reasons of why she did what she did, but also because it’s kinda nice being Pidge, she doesn’t want to go back to being Katie just yet. So, she keeps her mouth shut, and just kinda hums in response. </p><p>They pick up the Altean pod, then head back to the castle. Hopefully Hunk’s and Leandro’s journey went as smoothly.</p><p>—-</p><p>“Holy shit fuck. Oh my gosh we’re gonna die. Fuck. Oh shit.” Leandro cackles as Hunk swerves through the Galra ships. He can feel Blue nearby, and he’s practically vibrating from the excitement of seeing her again. Part of it is probably Blue’s too. She must be so happy to get out of there, she was never one for being cooped up. Leandro can tell that she’s under the water somewhere, but Yellow isn’t built for that, and even if she was, there’s a few too many Galra blocking them. </p><p>“Hunk, I’m jumping off, open Yellow’s ramp for me will you?”</p><p>“What?! No! You’re not jumping off! Are you crazy?”</p><p>“No! I’m not crazy! Listen, We both know that’s there’s no way to get past these Galra. So I jump off, swim to Blue, and then we both fly off. Easy peasy.”</p><p>“There are two major holes in that plan! One, what if you don’t fall into the water, what if you fall into a Galra ship, or what if they shoot at you? Two, you can’t fly Blue, Allura said that we don’t know who Blue’s paladin is. So no, you’re not jumping.” Leandro rolls his eyes.</p><p>“Counter-argument, one, the suits come with jetpacks, so I’ll just avoid the Galra, and two, I am Blue’s paladin and Allura’s just pissy that she’s not a paladin,” He pauses, then adds,” Also, she’s pissy about other things. Like certain life decisions I made.”</p><p>“Fine, but if you get hurt, I’m saying I told you so.”</p><p>“Fair enough, but I won’t get hurt.” Leandro puts his helmet on, and heads to the back of the lion, where they ramp is. He thinks he hears Hunk mutter something, but can’t tell what exactly he’s saying, something like you better not? Hunk is so nice, Leandro is glad they were paired together for this. The ramp opens and he jumps out. It doesn’t take him very long until he’s hitting the water, the Galra aren’t even a problem. He turns his headlight on and uses his jetpack to help him steer. </p><p>Blue is much father down then the Galra would ever need to go, which is probably why they haven’t found her yet. THey’re not here looking for Blue, that much is obvious, they’re just here to mine something, probably something from the surface of the planet based on where their ships are. It takes a while to get to Blue, and Hunk’s probably panicking, but he can only go so fast. As soon as he gets close enough to see her,  she lets down her shields.</p><p>He can feel her much clearer now that he’s actually her paladin, and sitting in her political seat feels right in a way that very little else does. They fly up to meat Yellow and he can’t help but let out a whoop. He turns on the coms and Hunk’s face fills the screen.</p><p>“Oh thank God you’re okay. And you’ve got Blue, yay! Can we leave now?” Leandro laughs.</p><p>“Lets go!” Hunk looks relieved at that.</p><p>It’s a bit easier said than done, but they’re able to escape the Galra and fly back to the castle relatively soon. Now they just have to get Red, shouldn’t be too hard, right?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Episode one part two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>told you my posting schedule was going to be shit</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Hunk and Leandro are flying their lions up to Sendek’s ship, and Pidge and Shiro are sneaking around the back in Green. Thankfully, Green’s had some kind of cloaking device, so they shouldn’t have been spotted. If they were, no one says anything. They find a side entrance and head inside. They sneak around, trying to find Red, and every now and then, a couple of sentries will show up, but they manage to avoid them fairly easily. Shiro somehow has the sentries schedule memorized, though he’s not sure when he memorized those. He’s not sure he wants to remember either. Pidge is trying to hack into the ship and find a map of it, but Shiro has no idea how it’s going. He’s not a tech person.</p><p> </p><p>“Got it! Turn left at the next opportunity.” Thank god for Pidge.</p><p> </p><p>With the map, they manage to find the red lion. She has her shields up, but she’s in a hanger, so maybe if they just open it they can push her out? Then fly off? It’s not a bad plan, just not a good one either. Before they can do anything though, Red’s shields drop. Shiro looks at Pidge, but Pidge just shrugs, indicating he doesn’t know either. Red’s ramp opens with a hissing sound, like it's releasing gas. No one comes out and after a moment of silence Pidge starts up the ramp, Shiro following close behind. The ship is lit with red lights, which gives it very spooky vibes that just makes Shiro’s heart beat a little faster than it already was. The pilot seat is occupied, some figure in the signature paladin armor. As they get closer, they can see the figure is bleeding, their hand pressed hard to their side. Their breath comes out heavy and panting. There’s a big shatter across their helmet screen and that mixed with the lighting makes it impossible to see what they look like. Pidge speaks first.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, are you the red paladin? Just shake your head up and down if yes, left to right if no if you can’t speak” Shiro wonders why the Pidge is explaining the concept of basic nonverbal conversation to this person before he remembers that this ‘person’ is probably actually an alien and aliens have no concept of human gestures. The figure shakes his head yes, slowly. “Cool, I’m the new green paladin, Pidge, and he,” he points to Shiro at this, “is the new black paladin, Shiro. We’re here to get the red lion, but you being here makes that much easier. We can help, we just need you to pilot the lion to our ship. Can you do that?” Shiro gives Pidge a look because there’s no telling who this guy actually is, but Pidge just waves him off. The figure nods again. “I’m going to leave Shiro with you, and I’m going to open the hanger once I get back to Green. Once I do that, follow me, okay?” The figure nods once more and Pidge smiles. Then proceeds to leave Shiro alone with the guy who’s more likely than not, bleeding out, looks shady as fuck, and doesn’t talk. Quiznack.</p><p> </p><p>There’s a few moments of awkward silence, as Shiro tries to figures out what the fuck he’s supposed to do in this situation. Finally, though, the hanger opens and Red takes off. Saved by Pidge. Blue and Yellow are caught in a tracker beam, but Green comes swooping through and knocks off the mechanism that’s pulling them. Green, Yellow, and Blue cause a little bit of chaos, not enough to stop them, but enough to slow them down. They head back to the castle, Red moving a little awkwardly, though that’s to be expected, what with its pilot piloting with only one hand and all. They make it back to the castle and land in the hanger. The red paladin tries to stand up, but immediately falls back into the chair. Shiro offers his hand and the red paladin looks at it for a second before accepting his help. Together they hobble out of the lion.</p><p> </p><p>Standing outside are Pidge, Leandro, Hunk, Coran, and Allura. Coran immediately starts fussing over the red paladin because apparently, he’s also a doctor? Shiro still not really sure who Coran is if he’s honest. They head to the medbay, which smells exactly like earth hospitals, which is a weird thing to be universal. Coran asks the red paladin to remove his helmet and they do.</p><p> </p><p>Shiro doesn’t really know how the others react, not at first anyways. He can feel Leandro coming closer, but he’s not really paying attention. He’s too focused on the fact that the red paladin is apparently Galra. He can feel his heart-rate pick-up, his hand grows shakey, the Galra must feel it, still being held up by Shiro, His breath comes out hard and fast, like he just ran a mile. He tries to take a deep breath but his lungs won’t let him. He tries to rationalize it, after all, this kid IS clearly the red paladin, and the red paladin wouldn’t let someone evil pilot her. Galra can’t all be bad, and it’s actually ridiculous to generalize a whole race. His body won’t listen to him though. Not until the Galra faints. That snaps Shiro into action, he shoves his feelings down and starts following Coran’s directions on what to do. They get him into a cryopod, which is some kind of magic healing tube, and then, and only then, does Shiro become aware of what is actually happening around him. He’s covered in Galra blood, Leandro and Allura are having a screaming match, she must have pulled him away from the Galra at some point, Hunk looks like he wants to throw up, which isn’t actually that much of a change, and Pidge looks uncomfortable, but also like he wants to fight someone. Shiro motions to Hunk and Pidge to follow him, gives a nod of goodbye to Coran, and heads out. Once Pidge and Hunk catch up to him he tells them that they simply have to wait and to give Leandro and Allura some space. They nod in agreement, and Shiro goes to take a shower, cause god knows he deserves it.</p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT YORAK WOULD NEVER SELL US OUT. LOOK, IM SORRY THAT YOU CAN’T HANDLE THAT PEOPLE CAN BE DIFFERENT THAN THEIR PARENTS, BUT HOW ABOUT YOU GET THE QUIZNACK OVER IT AND YOU GROW THE QUIZNACK UP.”</p><p> </p><p>“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY. HOW ABOUT YOU GROW UP ANDSTOP BEING SO NAIVE AND REALIZE THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU LOVE SOMEONE IT DOESN’T MAKE THEM GOOD.”</p><p> </p><p>“NO, BUT IT DOES MEAN THAT I KNOW HIM BETTER THAN YOU. AND GUESS WHAT, HE’S MORE QUIZNACKING GOOD THAN YOU’LL EVER BE.”</p><p> </p><p>“CHILDREN! ENOUGH!” Both Leandro and Allura startle, the shock of hearing Coran yell enough to stop their argument. “We don’t know how Yorak survived, nor do we know what side he’s on, we simply have to wait until he’s awake, which won’t be for a while. I suggest you two take a moment to calm down and start preparing for the battle ahead. The Galra are still coming, and will defeat us easily in this disorganized mess we are currently in.” Allura nods, then strides off.</p><p> </p><p>Leandro lingers, looking at Yorak trapped in the cryopod. He touches the glass, hoping that for once in her stupid life, Allura’s entirely incorrect. He can feel tears rising up again and he brushes them away. He can’t break down, not right now, so he takes a deep breath, gives Coran a smile that probably looks as fake as it feels, and heads to Blue.</p><p> </p><p>He can feel her calming presence in his head, getting stronger the closer he gets. It’s hard to remember the first time he felt Blue in his head, it’s been so long and it was such a gradual thing. At first, it was just a small presence, nothing compared to how it is now. Now that he’s her pilot. Now that he’s a paladin. Now that 99% of everyone he’s ever known is gone and nothing can bring them back. Now that there’s a new generation of paladins. Now that his sister is the only family he has left. His sister hates the love of his life. He’s spiraling, he knows it, but he can’t stop himself. He settles into Blue’s cockpit, but even she can’t help him calm down. Probably because he put his mental shields up. Shit. He can’t do anything though besides cry harder. It reminds him of a memory. He was about 10 and he had recently figured out that the presence he always felt was Blue. So naturally, the next time he got really upset he went to her. He was sitting in this exact position, crying just as hard, over some dumb shit that mattered so much less. Blaytz, the blue paladin at the time found him like that. He just held him, let Leandro cry on his shirt for probably like a varga. He didn’t ask questions like his mom always did. Didn’t try to get him to stop crying and just ‘be happy’ like his dad. When Leandro finally stopped crying, he asked Blaytz why.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Because blue paladins have to stick together. Blue picked you, just like she picked me. And one day, when you’re all grown up and her pilot, I want you to know that I’ll be there for you and will help you through it. It’s not always easy being the savior of the world, but a good support system goes a long way. Don’t ever think I’m not here for you, okay?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Leandro wishes Blaytz was here. Or his mom. Or even his quiznacking dad. Just, someone who could help him figure out what he’s supposed to do. Because all he’s got is a significant other who no one trusts simply because of where he came from, a sister who he’s constantly fighting with, an advisor who likes his sister more than him, and a handful of strangers. Oh, and also a giant sentient robot. Not the best support system. But at least he has someone? He’s not sure if any of them can actually help, but at the very least, he can help them. Out of all of them, he’s had the most experience with the lions. He’s the one who can help convince them that Yorak is good because of course Yorak is good. He’s foolish to think otherwise. He can do this, after all, the blue lion a leg of Voltron for a good reason. He wipes his eyes and sits up. He takes a deep breath and lowers his metal barricades, letting Blue back in.</p><p> </p><p>It’s go time baby.</p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>Allura finds the humans and forces them to start training. Now that all of the lions are in the castle, Shiro is able to pilot Black and there is no excuse for them not to be training. Shiro’s the best pilot out of the three, although apparently, he’s the only one of them with the proper training, so that makes sense. That being said, his piloting skills are still well below average. Hunk’s objectively the worst out of the group, and it’s a miracle he doesn’t crash. Leandro nowhere to be found, probably goofing off somewhere and destroying what remains of the Altean royalty’s legacy. What’s next? He’s going to forgive Zarkon himself because ‘it’s okay, he just made a mistake’. Leandro’s so naive.</p><p> </p><p>Speaking of Leandro, there he is. He comes on the comms and says some silly nonsense. She fights the urge to smile. Her brother might be a naive idiot, but he does know how to boost morale. Within a few minutes of him being, all of the humans are smiling and laughing. Their flying also improves, but not by much. Just as they’re starting to make real progress, Coran comes into the control room. Yorak is awake.</p><p> </p><p>They all assemble in the medbay. Yorak stands there awkwardly for a second, but then Leandro jumps on him, forcing Yorak to catch him. Before Allura can even say anything, like how it’s a bad idea to hug someone who is more likely than not an enemy, they’re kissing. Because of course they are. The humans look appropriately shocked at this. Leandro breaks the kiss, smiling like an idiot.</p><p> </p><p>“Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, this is Yorak. Yorak, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro.” He points to each of them as he says their names.</p><p> </p><p>“Nice to meet you.” He nods at the humans, then looks back at Leandro. “I think I missed out on some things. Um, how exactly did we get here?” Before Leandro has the chance to speak, Allura interjects.</p><p> </p><p>“Explain what you know first.”</p><p> </p><p>“Um, okay?” Leandro maneuvers them as Yorak talks so Yorak is fully facing the rest of them and Leandro is behind him, half supporting him and half laying on him, his chin resting on Yorak’s shoulder, “Zarkon had just attacked, I was trying to find Leandro, make sure he was safe, but an Altean guard thought I was one of the Galra attacking and attacked me. I managed to get away, Red found me, and that’s the last thing I remember before I met Shiro and Pidge.”</p><p> </p><p>“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Allura raises an eyebrow.</p><p> </p><p>Leandro piped up. “He is, I can tell, it’s a mate-bond thing.” He shrugs, a little awkwardly, what with his arms around Yorak and all. She knows Leandro won’t lie, not about something this important, but she’s still unsure.</p><p> </p><p>Coran explains the 10,000 year thing and their side of the story. Allura tunes out, not sure she can stomach hearing it all again. Everyone seems okay with having Yorak on their team, but Allura privately decides to keep a close eye on him. Just because he and Leandro are bonded doesn’t mean he’s on their side.</p><p> </p><p>—-</p><p> </p><p>Flying is Yorak’s favorite thing. Flying right after you figured out that your race genocided your boyfriend’s race while you were in cryosleep for 10,000 years, less fun. Flying right after you figured that out because someone you once considered a friend is trying to kill you, even less fun. Especially when they’re also trying to kill your boyfriend. So yeah, Yorak isn’t having that much fun right now. Also, they’re getting their asses handed to them because half of them don’t even know how to fly. This really isn’t Yorak’s day.</p><p> </p><p>“We have to try to form Voltron! There’s no way we’re defeating these guys otherwise!” Leandro makes a good point, but Yorak has no idea if they’re even able to form Voltron.</p><p> </p><p>“Great! How the fuck do we do that?” Pidge says as Yorak attacks yet another small ship. How many of these things does Sendak have? They’re not hard to beat but there are so many of them.</p><p> </p><p>“Just fly together! The lions will know what to do! Trust in your lion, let her guide you!” Yorak takes a deep breath and follows Leandro’s instructions. He sees the others doing the same. There are a lot of bright colors and then bam. They’re Voltron. It’s really cool. He can feel the others, sort of, and he feels his lion, stronger than before. He smirks, and then Voltron attacks.</p><p> </p><p>In the end, they win. They’re victorious and he can feel the others’ joy through the lion bond. It’s different than the bond he has with Leandro but very similar at the same time. He knows the victory is only temporary. That they won a battle, not the war, but he can’t bring himself to care. They won. They won with very little training. Think of what they can do with actual training. They might actually be able to win this stupid war. They can’t save the lives that have already been lost, but they can prevent even more death. He glances Leandro’s way and can tell he’s thinking the same thing.</p><p> </p><p>It's weird after that. Once the rush of the battle is over and they're no longer an immediate threat hanging over them, everything's a little awkward. Allura's colder than ever, although that makes sense, what with the whole, 'Galra genocided her people' thing. Leandro's trying his best to make it be less awkward, bless him. Pidge seems to like him at least. He keeps asking questions about various Galra shit. Hunk looks uncomfortable, but not at him necessarily, which is good? Coran seems indifferent, and Shiro? He has no quiznacking idea. He panicked when he first found out Yorak was well, Yorak. But now he seems? Okay? He’s not actively being mean to him, which is a plus.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s best that we start training right away. We don’t have time to wait.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sis, no. We’re all tired and it’s better if we wait till the morning. It’s already late.”</p><p> </p><p>“But-“</p><p> </p><p>“He’s right. “ Shiro chimes in, “We’re all going to work better with some good sleep.”The part of Yorak that hates mornings wants to disagree, but he’s also exhausted, and he knows everyone else is too. It’s been a long day.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine. But I better see you all awake bright and early tomorrow.” Yorak surpasses a groan. Pidge doesn’t bother trying that hard. Allura glares at him, but he doesn’t seem bothered. Just rolls his eyes at her and heads off.</p><p> </p><p>The new paladins are definitely, interesting, to say the least.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>did not mean to make part one so long and part two so short but,,, it is what it is. So, expect weird chapter lengths from now on I guess????</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Check out my Insta for some art of this I made. Also, maybe give me a follow over there cause...I make... art... I think its cool...but no pressure. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQk2NYhGBE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>